Organisers have apologised after thousands of festivalgoers had an uncomfortable wait in the hot sun while they queued to get into Soundsplash.
The music fans told Newshub many of them waited in lines for up to eight hours and were told they couldn't take water with them.
It's a moshpit but these people hadn't got anywhere near the festival yet.
"Our friends waited five hours in the hot sun getting burnt," one person told Newshub.
"My mate was waiting for eight hours," another said.
Hours were spent in the sun as fans waited to get on shuttles so they could access the event.
"Our experience was pretty rough. We sat and waited for six hours in the sun with our water bottles tipped out and it was very very hot," festival goer Ariel Hopkins said.
Attendees told Newshub they were required to pour out any liquids before entering the festival.
"There were a few people getting hot and bothered and saying they might pass out," Alice Beale said.
"They had water stations there but no one really wanted to get out of the queue to get water," Abby Rutherford said.
"We had a good experience because we had siblings who told us to go really early if we didn't want to wait for seven or eight hours," Lucy Mason said.
To get to the main parking for the event, most festival goers have to cross a one-way bridge.
Locals say the queue to get over was at least two kilometres long and caused major delays on the roads.
Raglan Fire Brigade acting chief Frank Turner lives on the other side of the bridge. He said the congestion was a huge concern for emergency call-outs.
"For the fire brigade guys, we can't get to the station," Turner said.
"We'd have to travel down the wrong side of the road with lights and sirens, and there's nowhere to go. It's just a gridlock."
In a statement, Soundsplash told Newshub it had entry congestion in the mid-morning.
"The crowd grew quickly and it coincided with the drivers' mandatory breaks. Unfortunately one of the busses broke down and our transport provider wasn't able to replace it at short notice," its statement said.
"I apologise to our attendees who experienced long waits for the shuttles. As with the delays caused by the search process on entry a couple of years ago, we are always looking at ways to improve the festival and will be revisiting the transport logistics for next year's event. We will implement improvements to ensure a better experience for all our attendees."
Inside the festival, police said there have been no major incidents.
"We've been very blessed with well-behaved crowds," Waikato west area prevention manager David Hall said. "Today, day two is going very very well, it appeared everyone enjoyed themself."
A welcome relief after what seemed a rocky start.
